1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular display control device that controls display contents to be provided to a driver of a vehicle, and more particularly, to a vehicular display control device that informs the driver of an appropriate warning according to a risk level of a problematic situation of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, vehicles are equipped with a plurality of indicators that keep the passengers riding in a vehicle updated about various situations such as the remaining amount of vehicle fuel or status of turn indicator lamps.
With the advent of car navigation systems with inbuilt display, a technology to display information and warnings on the inbuilt display is becoming prevalent.
A car navigation system can be used to display more detailed information about various situations as compared to conventional indicators. Moreover, the displayed information can be varies according depending on the transition in the situations. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-17652, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-46505, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-236955, and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H10-236243 disclose techniques for repetitively displaying a warning about a problematic situation until the problem is resolved.
By using the abovementioned technology, passengers riding in a vehicle can be updated about various problematic situations such as low fuel or continuous flashing of a turn indicator lamp. Although the passengers need to be warned about each problematic situation, the risk level of each problem is different if a vehicle is driven with the problem unresolved. For example, while riding in a vehicle, the risk level for low fuel is different than the risk level for a half-shut door.
Thus, it is necessary not only to inform the passengers about a problematic situation but also to warn how risky it is to ride in a vehicle without resolving the problem.
However, in a conventional technology, a warning issued to the passengers does not vary according to the risk level of each problematic situation. As a result, in the case of a high risk situation, there is a possibility that a passenger ignores the warning by cancelling the warning display and continues to ride in the vehicle without resolving the problem. On the other hand, in the case of a low risk situation, there is a possibility that a passenger cannot purposely cancel the warning display after reading the warning or the warning is repetitively displayed after being canceled.